St. Joe defense stymies Jimtown

JIMTOWN -- You could describe St. Joseph's defense as relentless, quick to the ball and physical in Friday night's Class 3-A Regional against Jimtown.

But the best way to illustrate the Indians' dominance comes in this statistical nugget: St. Joe quarterback Nick Carmola had his hand in as many touchdowns -- three -- as the Jimtown offense had first downs.

Add that defensive dominance to an efficient offense and you've got a 21-0 St. Joe victory and a regional title.

"They were just better up front than we were," Jimtown coach Mike Campbell said. "More physical, and their defense is tough. They're going to be a force to be reckoned with."

Next up for St. Joe is West Lafayette, which beat Bellmont, 14-7, Friday night. The Indians (11-2) and West Lafayette (12-1) play next Friday in semistate action with a trip to the state finals going to the winner. St. Joe will be the home team against West Lafayette.

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Friday night, the Indians went on the road, but it didn't really matter where the game was played with the way they executed defensively. They held the Jimmies, who finished 10-3, to 82 total yards.

After a scoreless first period, St. Joe scored all the points it would need when a Carmola-to-David Arsenault five-yard pass with 8:14 remaining before halftime capped a 77-yard, 16-play drive.

If there was a turning point, it came two minutes later. With the Jimmies facing a fourth-and-1 from their 47, they decided to go for it, but quarterback Justin Brown was smothered for no gain.

On the next play, Carmola took a couple of steps to his right before turning and lofting a pass toward tight end Connor Edmonds. The pass was tipped by a Jimtown defensive end, but Edmonds still caught it, ran through a tackle and sprinted into the end zone.

"I was pretty nervous," Downey recalled after seeing the tip. "And then he had the athleticism and heart just to run down the field and score a touchdown.

"That was a major turning point because their defense was playing very, very well."

The problem for Jimtown was that St. Joe was playing even better. After a long kickoff return, the Jimmies marched to the Indians' 10 late in the half. But on fourth-and-3, St. Joe again responded, stopping Devan Emerson for no gain. It was one of three times the Indians stopped the Jimmies on fourth down, a down Downey refers to as "money down."

"The key to that is being quick, staying low and never stopping your feet," he said. "That just goes to their effort there. I don't think there was too much scheme going on there."

"They're very physical on both sides of the ball," Campbell said. "They don't give you much room to breathe on defense, and on offense they keep moving the chains. That's what we wanted to do. We couldn't do it tonight and the better team won."